Horses share many things in common with humans – one being the potential to develop osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis occurs when the cartilage in a joint (and its underlying bone) degenerates. At the Ontario Veterinary College, Sarah Lepage and her advisor, Thomas Koch, use stem cells to engineer new cartilage.

Armed with stem cells obtained from the umbilical cords of horses, Lepage grows large numbers of these cells in the lab before coaxing them to form disks of cartilage. The Koch team is looking to analyze the engineered cartilage before testing it in horses and, finally, humans.

Just one example of the fascinating work young Canadian researchers are doing with stem cells.

This is the fourth video in the Stem Cells Inked series. To see a more detailed write up of this project and my involvement in this exciting collaboration, take a look at the case studies.